In 1847, Captain Sir John Franklin led a Royal Navy expedition to navigate the Northwest Passage.
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An arctic research mission claims that it’s discovered the HMS Terror, one of two Franklin Expedition ships that sunk during a doomed attempt to traverse the Northwest Passage. All died. Researchers are now searching the ship for clues about exactly what happened to the men during their final days on earth. The location of the second ship, HMS Terror, was still being sought, though, a mission that itself has reached its conclusion thanks to the Arctic Research Foundation and a single tip.
The Arctic Research Foundation, a private group that sent the Martin Bergmann research vessel to help look for the ship, found it in pristine condition at the bottom of Terror Bay earlier this month, a spokesman told Britain’s Guardian newspaper on Monday. “Found a desk with open drawers with something in the back corner of the drawer”. The HMS Terror went down around 60 nautical miles north of where HMS Erebus sank.
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The video shows various parts of the ship, including the capstan, the bell, exhaust pipe and wooden plankings. The stern cabin is said to still have three out of four intact glass windows. Finding nothing, the Martin Bergmann-led crew made a decision to take a detour to Terror Bay after hearing a story from an indigenous crew member named Sammy Kogvik. “Given the location of the find [in Terror Bay] and the state of the wreck, it’s nearly certain that HMS Terror was operationally closed down by the remaining crew who then re-boarded HMS Erebus and sailed south where they met their ultimate tragic fate”. Two years ago, it’s companion ship, the HMS Erebus, was discovered by underwater archaeologists from Parks Canada. The information that led to the discovery was also guided by the oral history of the Inuit people.
